


On screen & behind

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Solo is the actor, Ben is a softie, Ben is hashtag frustrated, Chemistry, Fluff and Smut, Hot trailer sex, Lust at First Sight, Rey is the PA, film set, reylo au, who even drinks that nasty soda except Adam Driver
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It never fails to make her day better than when Ben, a major movie star, has enough time and energy to talk to someone like her.It makes her day. Every time.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 17
Kudos: 121
Collections: Galactic Idiots Collection





	On screen & behind

**Author's Note:**

> I did this small little fic because of a cute AU post Fran @galacticidiots did and I wrote the story in a fury because I just loved it.
> 
> Big thanks to Fran and the others in the post hyping me up to post.
> 
> 1/2 chapters. Smut next chapter 😇.

  
  


Sparkling Canada Dry soda. 

Rey thinks it’s the most boring drink in the whole world. The buffet cart that she’s responsible to set up everyday during rehearsal would impress even the most experienced actors. The set up isn’t even her job—her job as a Principal Production Assistant is _much_ more demanding than that. She’s just worked in enough production sets in her short career already that she’s tired of seeing the same old cliche, healthy, boring food. She’s pretty proud of her team today—there’s two carts today: one with Doritos, some healthy pita chips for the more health conscious folks, wraps, sandwiches, etc. The other cart contains much different food, intended for a specific audience. 

And there’s that _fucking_ sparkling Canada Dry soda. 

_It’s not even real soda_ , Rey thinks while rolling her eyes and grabbing a can. She flicks it open and the sound of the gas slipping out would be music to her ears, but it’s sparkling soda. The taste in her mouth is even more abhorrent when she realizes it’s just plain flavored, not even a colorful cranberry or coconut flavor. 

She hates everything about it. And yet, she’s obsessed with the one who drinks this abomination of a drink religiously. 

Right on cue, Ben Solo strolls over to his buffet cart. Ben, lead actor in the new space drama she’s working on, takes a can of soda and stands next to her. She plays this same dance with him every time. He’ll grab a can and his plate, she’ll grab a can too and hate every minute of it, he'll say something to her that makes her want to devour him, and then they both rush back to set. It never fails to make her day better than when Ben, a major movie star, has enough time and energy to talk to someone like her.

It makes her day. _Every_ time. 

That's the thing with Ben, though. He's not like every other movie star that she's gotten to work with. Hollywood changes people. She's worked with enough actors already to see how the fame gets to their head. Rey doesn't understand--she's never been privileged enough to know what a decent house looks like, much less a mansion. Or to have multiple partners or wives, when she barely even had family to begin with.

No, Ben is... _different_ . Admittedly, she barely knows him. This is only the second movie she's worked with him on. He's always been nice, though. And kind. He's not afraid or wary of striking up conversation with her. And never treats her or the rest of her team like less. His assistant seems to genuinely like him. And the actors that work with him almost _beg_ for his attention. It doesn't help that he's ridiculously handsome, and not in the typical movie star type of way. Rey likes to imagine that they would run into each other outside of this universe in a parallel one, and become friends at first. Then, they would develop feelings for each other before getting married and having a ton of kids.

Ben is an enigma. One that Rey is very, very fond of.

Today, he’s wearing a tight white t-shirt with a leather black jacket on top. The jacket doesn’t hide how snug the shirt fits on his body. It's no secret he’s been working _every_ hard on his physique for the movie, due to the trials his character will go through. His hair is a bit longer than the short haircut he displayed in the first film. Rey thinks it looks nice on him. She knows he hates his ears—she imagines how soft and strong they would feel in her fingertips—so the style suits him. 

He acts like the decision making process for food is a hard one, but Rey already knows what he’s going to get. She smiles smugly when he skips that other cart in favor of the one she prepped for him. He notices that this cart is full of his favorite things. There’s the nasty soda, the peanut butter and jelly triangle sandwiches with the crusts off, SunChips, red Gatorade, and packs of Swedish fish scattered around just to name a few. She can’t help but feel like she’s missing something on the table today, but there’s no way Ben would even notice given the plethora of food. 

He lets out a slow whistle. “Johnson, you’re going to ruin my figure if you keep spoiling me.” He throws her a crooked smile as he grabs his plate, and it takes everything in her power not to melt into the ground. He always calls her Johnson, never Rey. She doesn’t think he even knows her first name. But she’ll take any crumbs he gives her. 

Rey, playing it cool, pats herself on her back and laughs. “Enjoy it while it lasts—it’s Rose’s turn tomorrow to be spoiled.” 

Ben rolls his eyes. “She’s going to be late today—again.” He finishes off two triangle sandwiches in two bites. “I swear, if she wasn't one of my closest friends, I would kill her.”

Rey looks around the set. The scene for today’s rehearsal is when both main characters, the “good” and “bad” characters, meet face to face for the first time since the last movie in an elevator, and they have to confront each other. There’s a serious, urgent tone to the scene—an eventual and questionable team up she knows about due to some connections of her obtaining a script—and she’s excited to see it come to fruition. 

Rey can’t help but notice that every time Rose is late or gone, Poe also suddenly disappears as well. Poe is the principal director, and this is the third movie she’s worked with him. He’s never had absences or tardy issues before, so she has enough common sense to piece two and two together. It seems like everyone else isn’t catching on yet.

Ben looks to her like he has something to tell her, but the shrill alarm that pierces throughout the set reminds them to get back to their trailers for the change of scene. Ben has to get his makeup and costume ready, so he waves goodbye at Rey instead. She then scrambles to put all the food away and store it. Unwillingly, she hauls the rest of that nasty soda to her trailer. Then her team calls for her to discuss prop settings and a few set changes they need to do. 

She’s in the midst of helping iron out some wrinkles on the curtains in the red throne room when someone calls for her. She turns to see the assistant director wave her over to him. She jogs over and is surprised to see Ben next to him fully transformed into his character. His all black ensemble makes his character, well, _him._ It makes Ben seem bigger, stronger, scary. 

She’s always so thrown off from just how big he is. It’s cute when he’s next to Rose, since she’s super petite and small, but now it just sends shivers down her spine. Trying not to gape at him, she gives both men a tight smile. 

The AD explains to her that because both Rose and Poe are both running late, they can’t start filming the rehearsal just yet. So they’ll just have to stick to regular rehearsal for now. 

Rey is about to assure them that she’ll try everything in her power to make everything perfect before Poe and Rose get here when the AD says something that makes her brain melt. 

“Ben and I were thinking you could just fill in for Rose during rehearsal for just one scene, if that’s alright. You have the height, and you know how to white balance the cameras anyways so you’ll be doing both of us a favor.” He motions his finger around the room. "Plus uh, there's not really an abundance of women flowing around here so." He gives her a hopeful look. 

She doesn’t realize she’s looking at them with wide eyes, sweat already forming on her forehead. “ _Me?_ ”, she squeaks out. She’s backtracking already, surely thinking that she's being punked, when Ben reaches forward to grab her by the arms to sustain her. 

“Rey.” He says with finality. “It’s just rehearsal.” His eyes search hers when she takes a deep breath. “C’mon Johnson, it’s the least you can do for forgetting to get Sour Skittles today.” He winks.

She knits her brows together. _He knows her name? And Sour Skittles?_ Muttering softly under her breath, she reluctantly agrees. “So that’s what I forgot.” 

*

She’s never shaken with so much energy before. 

The lights are blinding her. The camera lenses are zoomed in on her mid torso and even though she’s holding a white balancing board, she can’t seem to hold it still. Ben, in his character, is standing behind her in close proximity. 

“You’re a natural.” Rey doesn’t have to look back behind her to know he’s teasing her. “White balancing is a talent. Rose is too short to do it.” She throws an elbow behind her, hitting him lightly on his gut. He grunts with a chuckle. 

Maybe it’s because of the lights. _Maybe it’s because she’s never been on the actual set with another actor, much less with Ben Solo_ , her traitor of a mind reminds her. The A&V director gives her a thumbs up, signaling the lighting and hues for the main camera are set for the scene. She tosses the white balance board to the side and tries to stand completely still while awaiting future directions. 

She’s trying to ignore the hulk of a man behind her. 

She hears him softly recite his lines. The scene he asked her to rehearse with isn’t a hard one, thankfully. Ben was surprised to hear she knows the lines because she has a copy of the script thanks to Poe. The lines in this scene aren’t long, but they’re essential to where the characters are driving each other. She doesn’t think the characters would be serious like the script called for as they would be sincere. 

Of course, she doesn’t say any of this because Ben would just look at her crazy. But Rey always had a love for screenwriting. It's the main reason she's in the industry. When everything was lost for her, writing movies and plays were her escape. Unfortunately, her poverty didn't allow her to continue on in her studies, but she's paved the way for herself. 

She takes a look around the set. All of the stuntmen are lounging on the family couch they have in a corner. None of them have scenes to rehearse today since today was marked off for this scene, but they're called in to see where their placement as guards would be in regards to this specific scene. 

Rey can’t help but feel slighted by God or some deity that deemed her worthy of having to stand and work with her silly crush, much less rehearse with him. She can’t say she didn’t imagine this scenario at night, reading the script between the characters. She imagines that it’s her during the fight scene, grabbing onto his back and hoisting herself off of him to slash guards. That it’s her when they touch hands. That it’s her when she has to cry when she learns that he cares more about her than the war they’re fighting on. 

Now, she regrets ever thinking about such possibilities because she’s terrified. And she knows Ben can sense her energy. 

“Rey. Relax.” He mutters softly under his breath as the sound crew get their microphones hoisted above them to test their settings. Rey nods her head and takes in a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry—normally I’m the one on the other side of the camera lenses.” She grits out, moving her head to side so he can hear her better amidst all the chaos happening in front of them. “Just don't expect an Academy Award performance, okay?” Ben acknowledges her with a small nod. 

The AD comes over and addresses Ben about the scene at hand. He stresses to Rey that the cameras won’t be on her and that puts her at ease a bit. The cameras will be lasered in on Ben to see how natural the slash across his face will appear so up close. Ben, for practical reasons, wants Rey there to have someone to address to when rehearsing his lines. 

She’s sure that she’ll prove more useful by making sure the set is ready by then. She has no idea why she even agreed to this. She's never been this close to Ben, but now she's going to make a fool out of herself. But both the AD and Ben agree that their choice was the right one when they hear that Rey, in fact, knows the lines. He tells them to just worry about each other and the rehearsal of the scene, and that he’ll worry about making sure the cameras and lighting are ready to go for when Rose and Poe arrive to set. 

Leaving them alone again brings Rey back to her nerves. Ben taps on her shoulder to let her know that he’s going to begin. Rey steadies herself for a few seconds, and is grateful to Ben when he doesn’t do any more teasing.

She mimics the “action” marker sign that she loves to do. 

“So both characters are in close proximity for the first time after their connections,” Ben narrates the scene for her and she follows along, “and now they’re trapped together in an elevator for a short amount of time, waiting to see what happens.” He steps back into place to signal the start of their scene. 

Rey sets her face in place. Closing in on herself, she imagines the character of Kira as determined to turn over the young apprentice. She knows the good that the character possesses is just shrouded by the darkness. Kira is a fighter, something Rey can relate to all too well. 

“You don’t have to do this.” She starts off, a little shaky and unsure of what she’s doing, but determined to keep going. “I feel the conflict in you, it’s tearing you apart.”

She turns around to face Ben, or Ren, as his character is called. He’s staring straight ahead, fixated on looking at anything but her, just like the script calls him to do. 

“Ren.” She says softly, but with urgency. Her accent is clipped, making his name sound more urgent. He turns to look at her, and she’s stricken to see that his normally light brown eyes are almost black. His ability to physically turn into his characters makes her want to squirm, but remembers the lines she needs to finish. “When we touched hands, I saw your future—just a shape of it, but it was _solid_ and _clear_.” Her accent again pronounces the words with something akin to desperation. 

She steps closer to him as she gets more invested in her part. “You will not bow before Snoke...you’ll turn.” Her eyes can't help but rake over his eyes, nose, and lips. She's already lost in everything he is, and forgets that the next line should be emphasized with purpose. So it comes out a little bit more desperate and breathless. "You'll turn. I saw it." She whispers her last line.

She gulps as she’s relieved she’s finished her part and waits for Ben to do his. As he speaks, she can’t help but look at his lips in their closeness. The makeup department should earn all the trophies for making them look red and juicy. They’re a luxury to behold up close. His deep timbre elevates the scene to another level, making it sounds more seductive than needed. Ben seems to be doing it on purpose, because his eyes rake all over Rey’s body while saying his lines. They stop short of her lips, his tongue peeking out from behind his mouth to coat his lips. 

She’s staring so hard at his mouth, entranced, that she doesn’t even register the small applause coming from the few crew that paid attention. Ben snaps back into himself with a small head shake. She wasn't even aware of how close they've gotten. Both of them were within inches of each other, chests heaving and breathing heavy. While she knows that the script called for this scene to be serious and urgent, she's pretty sure she just performed soft-core porn with the way she undressed him with her eyes. She can't even recall what her life was before this moment, before she got lost in eyes and his lips. _God,_ those lips. Rey doesn't think she could ever forget how they look like up close.

She squeaks a quick _"Okay, hope that helped, bye!"_ before gunning it to her trailer so she can shower, eat, run, _something_ so she can forget about it. She leaves behind a stunned Ben, his eyes trailing after her.

It takes Ben a bit to snap out of his trance, too. He’s unsure of what happened. All he knows is that he needs _more_ of it. 

The AD comes over, and looks at him curiously. 

“Huh.” He says simply. “I didn’t expect that.”

Knitting his brows, Ben asks, “Expect what?”

The AD seems to stumble over his words for a bit, unsure of how to say what he wants to say. He finally resolves to mimic an explosion with his hands, adding a _poof_ sound effect before walking away. 

_Fireworks,_ Ben realizes. 

**Author's Note:**

> Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen with all that soda 👀


End file.
